Tag Archive: Piscataway

Congress members Frank Pallone and Bonnie Watson Coleman have formally asked U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to release from ICE custody two fathers arrested as they dropped their children off for school late last month, and a third man…Read more

UPDATE: Piscataway only relented on their unenforceable ordinance hampering the public recording their public meetings when ACLU had to inform them of the law. They, and every municipality, need to be reminded they can’t interfere with the free speech rights…Read more

Gubmint transparency > bad local practices. Staci Berger, an organizer of Central Jersey Progressive Democrats and a involved Piscataway resident, just wrote at Blue Jersey about the local Council’s attempt to stop her, or any resident, from recording a public…Read more

Don’t tangle with the civic-minded, well-educated citizens of Piscataway, especially if you are an elected representative of Piscataway. Especially don’t try to evade transparency when Staci Berger comes to meetings. She knows OPRA & OPMA, and she has questions for…Read more

You still think swastikas look cool The real Nazis run your schools They’re coaches, businessmen and cops In a real fourth Reich you’ll be the first to go – Come for the Dead Kennedys (hat-tip Kate), stay for the 1943…Read more

Bill is running for NJ State Senate (LD17) as a progressive Democrat. The names of all the progressive candidates – including for Democratic County Committee – are listed below. Promoted by Rosi. I am honored to be among the candidates…Read more

The Home News reported on the arrest of Highland Park activist, retired Rutgers professor, David Antebi, outside Pallone’s Piscataway town hell, for a comment he made after being baited by a teabagger. It is so far over the top that he is now facing charges. His wife described it to me the next day as “surreal” and “Kafka-esque.” From the article, pic included:

The Highland Park man was searched by plainclothes police officers, handcuffed, fingerprinted and booked after a confrontation with people opposed to the health-care legislation being pushed by President Obama. He was charged with the disorderly persons offense of creating false public alarm…

Antebi said he was egged on by the anti-reform people who were the ones who called the police. Antebi documents protests through photography and brought a camera with him for the town hall meeting, he said. After a heated discussion about health-care legislation with people he believes were part of an organized group, one of the opponents asked him if he had a bomb in the bag, according to Antebi. He said he laughed off what he felt was a ridiculous remark…

The alarm that I’m feeling (as well as the section of the ‘public’ that includes David’s friends and the Highland Park area activist community) is that police can use the post 9/11 hysteria to create havoc based on an off hand remark that was clearly not serious. And there’s nothing false about that sense of public alarm.

UPDATE #2: Winston Smith had an altogether different view of this event than I did. His diary is here.

Maybe it was the configuration of the room, shallow and wide and not narrow and deep, making no allowance for shouters to use distance from the stage to intimidate like at Frank Pallone’s Red Bank Town Hall. Maybe it was the Congressional District, NJ-12 not NJ-6. And this congressman doesn’t bear direct responsibility for the public option bill, the way Pallone does, with HR 3200 out of his Health Subcommittee, of House Energy & Commerce.

But the experience of sitting in on Rush Holt’s event, while contentious, was different. It lacked the manic surges, and lines of people demanding serial sessions. Questions were collected and read aloud by the congressman. That tended to lead to briefer, substantive audience feedback, rather than the set-up Pallone staggered under in Red Bank, grappling with questions from microphones louder than his own.

I saw Holt slip into a reactive posture only once, when he called some shouters “noisemakers.” Minor. Pallone, who I saw through nearly 9 hours on his feet over 2 nights, kept his cool completely. The tamer audience allowed for a better information flow. From both sides. And Holt got the chance to be eloquent.

Asked if public option meant rationed care:

As a matter of fact, health care is rationed right now. Some people don’t get it! And I prefer rational health care, which this would be, over rationed.

Why is this legislation moving so fast?

The situation as it is now is not sustainable. And it’s not morally or ethically acceptable. Further, the economy will not recover as long as we’re saddled with these escalating health care costs. In fact, this should have been done before this time.

To a similar question, about timing:

We’ve been working toward some of the elements of this for many years. It goes back to Roosevelt – Teddy Roosevelt, as well as FDR.

After the Town Hall, Holt met privately with three reporters. One of us asked where all this vitriol and opposition was coming from:

Well, I can certainly point you toward some websites that are the source of misinformation and upset. But where the anxiety of people is coming from is tougher to say. We are living through tough economic times. A lot of people are on edge. And, in fact, a lot of people are living on the edge.

Maybe it was the configuration of the room, which was shallow and wide and not narrow and deep, making no allowance for angry shouters to use their distance from the speaker to intimidate the rest of the auditorium like they did at Frank Pallone’s Red Bank Town Hall last week. Maybe it was the different Congressional District, NJ-12 not NJ-6. Almost certainly it was that this congressman didn’t bear direct responsibility for the health care reform bill containing the much-debated public option, HR 3200, the way Pallone certainly does with the bill coming out of his Health Subcommittee of the House Energy & Commerce Committee.

But the experience of sitting in on Rush Holt’s public event on the same topic last week, while contentious, lacked the surging intimdation tactics and the deep lines of people waiting to get in to what had to be multiple sessions each night. Questions submitted by the audience were collected and read aloud by the congressman, who then addressed them. And in some cases, that led to briefer, substantive questions and commentary from the audience, rather than the situation Pallone had in Red Bank, grappling with questions from microphones turned up higher than his own.

I’m planning to be at both of these Town Halls. Tonight I’ll be there with nyceve who writes on health care for Daily Kos, and Jonathan Tasini. We’ll all be there on the reform side. I hope to see some of you from the Blue Jersey community, too. If you see us, please come by and let us know what’s on your mind. – – – promoted from the diaries by Rosi Efthim

Since I first went to Congress some 20 years ago, I’ve always made a point of coming home from Capitol Hill to listen to my constituents’ concerns and brief them on the work I’ve been doing on their behalf. Despite the well-coordinated campaign by those obstructionists intent on derailing progressive change in Washington, this year will be no different. So in case you haven’t heard, I’m hosting town meetings tonight and tomorrow here in my district.